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Sunday, July 18

The Automobile: Blessing or Curse?

.:At the blessing of automobiles and bicycles today:.

Few inventions have changed our modern world as much as the automobile. Being as fast as the wind it allows us to transverse great distances with ease. Dirt roads have grown into massive four lane highways, cities have expanded with populations commuting from the suburbs, and even the good old family vacation can now be to more distant places like beautiful beaches, mountains, and cities.

True, the pessimist may argue that the invention of the automobile has also brought things like traffic, pollution, and even congestion to these places. Yet, that is to see the tank “half-empty”, and with the price of gas on the rise these days who really wants to do that?

As an optimistic, “half-full” community, our church, sees the invention of the automobile as the tremendous blessing it is. Each summer, the church blesses not only cars, trucks, and motorcycles, but even children’s bikes and tricycles.

“The Bible teaches that ‘every good and perfect gift is from above’, and we believe this to mean not only spiritual things like wisdom, forgiveness, and love, but also the very practical, day-to-day things we use and enjoy”, says Fr. John, pastor of the community. “The Church sees science and religion as complementary rather than contradictory. We understand God to be not only the intelligent author of the beautifully ordered creation but also the ongoing inspiration of scientists, inventors, poets, musicians, and artists. The invention of the automobile is one such example of divine-human cooperation; it makes this world smaller, helping to unite us, and isn’t unity also at the very heart of the Gospel – a unity between God and man, and man and his neighbor.”

Fr. John is quick to point out that asking the Lord’s blessing on our vehicles doesn’t necessarily provide us with immunity from accidents or even injury; the church makes no guarantee is this sense. “However, what the blessing does ensure is that whether our trip is smooth or bumpy we will be making that journey with the Lord, and what better companion can we have on the road of life?” Fr. John then chuckles as he recalls the question often posed to him, “Alright, so if my car is blessed does this mean I won’t get any speeding tickets?” His standard response is, “Absolutely, God’s blessing can help in this regard too. The blessing will remind you not to speed!”

Our church welcomes everyone, "half-empty" and "half-full" people alike, to come for the special blessing of automobiles which will take place on Sunday, July 18th, following the 9 o’clock service.

**This was a press release from our church sent out to the papers recently. I edited it to remove identifying information about our church to keep myself more anonymous on this blog.**

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I am an Orthodox Christian woman who is happily married to an Orthodox priest. I am a mama to three little ones and I enjoy trying to create a peaceful and lovely life for my sweet family!
E-mail: emily at orthodoxws dot com